Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-09-03
One Of Them Gives Some OF His Exper.
ieEces.-Xo False WHISPERS and
Gair Dye DISCUSSES
Tbs Class Of Guests Who Occupy Their IL
tention-sneak Thieves and swindlers
in Rotels-Extra Work
New York commercla! Advertiser.


hotel detective.
"The very essence Of coed detective
WORK is 10 be G good shadower," said Mr..
Larkiua. ''You want to be acIe 70 follow
q man from the time he gets up
until re is in bed again, and never
let him know that he is being fol-
lowed; you mus. watch him, but must
never attract MS attention And this is
not dOEe - any petty personal 1isgQises,
such as the story books aid weekly
| papers tel about. Detectives dou'5 10
atoErd with t1eir pockets filled with false
/ Gh.ahers and hair dye, cor do theychange
their clothes every hall hour when they
axe following 2 man. II you follow 2
! man irom one city TO smother it IL some
! times wei TO shave off your mOutaChc or
/ haze your hair cut 6 different style, but
| shero is Hmil 10 al mat sort OF business.
| Inst describes detective Work in general,
| there iS nothing which radically distin-
/ guishes Motel detectives from others"
"But what are the special ana peculiar
! duties OF hotel deteCtive?'i
az IS the business Of hotel detective,
lrst of al, % keep sn eye on all arrivals
st the hotel. OF course it is impossible
for him to sand al :he door at eli hours
and infinitely note the physiognomy OF
every man who approaches with g grip
sack in his hand, put within few hours
after stranger has arrived tee detective
is supposed 10 have seen him and sized
him up. TIE greater psrt OF the guests
in any hotel are always either permanent
residents there, or at least very regular
transients. That is to say, Of oil those per
soas from out Oftown who may be stopping
a. hotel 81 particular time, the ma
jOTity have puL up st the same place
before. With sill these regular guests the
detective IS supposed 20 be acquainted
Just IS thoroughly as the clerk is and IS
soon as one OF them comes into the house
ne is supposed to be able to recall every
thing he ever knew about the man. But
every actual stranger is 10 be noted and
observed until the detective is satisfied
thar he is straight. - long as he hss
any doubts about the man a. al hc is to
keep that man under watCh. OF course,
however, this does not mean that de
tectiye IS TO make himself conspicuous IN
following every man about whom be does
not happen TO know. lie is to exercise
Judgment II the matter"
"What class OF criminals frequent the
big hoteIs?"
"First OF ell, the high grade class of
sneak thief. One Of this class viii take
= room at Hrst-class hotel for the OPP
pOrtunities ne may have 70 go through
the rooms Of the other guests. Such q
man will post himself about The pess5le
in the house Just as thoroughly as de-
teCtive would. Ee will observe the peO-
PIE who nave the best clothes, TIE most
money and finest ,welry, and ne will
I Lon. -
Then he will learn something about the
when they are away he will 90 through
their rooms. The favorite time Tor
such operations is dinner time. Having
selected the rooms to be gone through he
lets himself in with skeleton KEY, and
selects whatever he csn best get away
: with These professionals can tell very
quickly lust where the ordinary men OF
woman will hide Y2lueblcs. and it does
. not take them long 10 60 through s room
, Then they skip out. On such expeditions
crooks do not carry much baggage, a.
, though, for the sake of appearance, they
may have big yallse or trunk stuffed
with bricks and old papers. Consequently
when they make g haul they do rot hest.
. tate to abandon all their baggage, and il
is needless to say that they fsfget to pay
= their hotel bill" ,
I "And how do you look CAT for suqa fel
: lows?" e
"WelI, as I said before, if we sea'any-
: thing suspicious about man weEwatch
. MIN, and if we see that guest isnnduiy
iIquisltiye regarding the plan Of the
, house that is suspicious. Ii we find 8
; man wandering about hall where he has
. no business we watch where he goes, and
Il we see him several times that way we
, set regular watch upon him, and caution
. the servants to look out for him. 1t may
. be that such g man is simply g masher,
trying to airt with one OF the female
, guests, or simply following ore Of the
chambermaids about. But it is aIwsvs
: well to watch man when you see hin
= wandering about the Railways grea'
: deal with no apparent obiect."
8 "But you can not keep watch on 8
= man all the time"
:, THAT is true, and, because we can't
: we sometimes get left. l remember the
: case OF q man who came here several
= years ago and had the name of Watson
y [ saw him when he first came il, ant
. from the looks CT his eyes l thought 1t
= was thief. When he was registering
" tried to tell the clerk not 10 let him hav;
: room, but the clerk did not notice me
- and he gave him room now used TO
= washing dishes. This room had window
near the ceiling, opening into en- adjoining
!. room where q lawyer was stop
9 ping. Well, I watched that fel-
= low closely for nearly week
), and saw nothing wrong. Finally tht
lawyer went over to Baltimore, and in tht
~ afternoon l was sent down town to cast
= check. When l got back l could no
= see the fellow Watson, and sitter z time
q went into bis room. There were scratch
es On the wall under the window spoke
Of, and the dust had been brushed of
from the sill. Two days afterward the
lawyer returned and found that he Wa:
minus $500 worth of clothes. Watson
u had walked right out the side door, anC
e as he was genteel looking fellow, thC
J. side door man never bothered
him at all. Well, l watched foI
e that fellow for month, and then l saw
& him one day just shout to register q. The
Grand Central hotel. touched him OF
the arm and told him to come with me
:, He was very indignant, snd declared hC
2 ID Iy-n ,be- bo VnrL